


Dust

by AlsyWalsy



Series: Hancock with Pets [3]
Category: Fallout 4
Genre: F/M, I promise to actually write some plot next time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-18
Updated: 2016-02-18
Packaged: 2018-05-21 12:56:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6052390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlsyWalsy/pseuds/AlsyWalsy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>More Hancock/Nora fluff with pets involved. Next time I promise some plot!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dust

Nora was starting to get used to this world that she had been thrust into. Once upon a time she had had an easy life – one where she had a wonderful family, a nice home and even a friendly helper robot to make life that much simpler. She had once worked as a lawyer, and she made good money at it too. But all that was gone. That entire world was gone, ripped from her. But this new world? Well, turned out that it wasn’t all that bad, after all.

If you ignored the ferals, the raiders, the deathclaws, the giant evil bugs and the constant threat of lethal radiation poisoning, she could almost imagine that she was stuck out in the desert somewhere. Instead of in what should be a thriving, busy city, and its luscious surroundings. Some might simply see nothing more than death. Those who lived their whole miserable little lives down in that shitty Institute certainly saw nothing else. But Nora, she saw life. Hope. She saw that things could get better. And she had found herself in the middle of that effort.

She might spend most of her days doing all that she could to build up other settlements, or help already standing ones, but she would always end up returning home.

For a long time she had called Sanctuary Hills her home. It was there that she had settled down with her Husband, Nate. There they had had Shaun. In Sanctuary, their whole lives had come to an explosive end. It was also where she had decided to rebuild her life. She had welcomed settlers of all walks of life; she had helped them build a thriving little community, with the help of her friend, of course. But when all was finished, when all was said and done.. She couldn’t remain. Nate was gone, Shaun was gone. That whole life was gone. She had to make a fresh start. The Castle was that fresh start.

Being General of the Minutemen, it certainly helped to be at Headquarters the entire time she was not out exploring. But it made a wonderful home for her companions, a small number of settlers, and her rapidly growing collection of pets.

She probably shouldn’t call them pets. The dogs were all trained to guard and more than capable of taking down their fair share of raiders. ‘Working dogs’ was probably a more apt term. But to her, they were cute, cuddly little babies that would share her bed every night. If she was allowed.  Turns out, Hancock wasn’t big into sharing his bed with anybody other than her.

Most nights he would grumble and try to push the dogs out of the way. Most nights he would lose and would end up with a dog sprawled over his legs. Such was the hazard when your ‘double’ bed was just a pair of mattresses on a wooden pallet. Then the cat had come along and it was a whole new side to her man.

Turns out, Hancock likes cats. _Really_ likes cats. He took a shine to that cat the moment she brought him home.

Some settlement had been wiped out and whilst she and Nick were clearing out the raiders, a little meow had caught her attention. She had found this little grey kitten, hidden away in a cabinet in one of the old shacks. She had instantly fallen in love and so had her boyfriend. He had insisted that he name the little critter, so they had ended up with a cat named Dust.

‘ _This whole place is covered in the stuff, this way he fits in_.” She remembered him saying as he sat there with this little bundle of fur asleep in his lap.

Now she and the dogs had to share with Hancock and Dust. It was getting a little crowded in their bedroom. But she found that she didn’t mind. Not much. Her life had been full of death and despair for months, but now things were looking up again. There was life, joy and love in her heart. She never wanted to lose it.

“Have you seen that man of yours? I tell you now; he didn’t half give me a laugh when I found ‘im. You need to remind him that he should be thankful none of these cameras here work. Otherwise I’d be laughing my fucking arse off plastering this place wit’ pictures.”

Cait’s greeting was not something she had been expecting.

“Come again?”

“Your man, Hancock. He’s in the living area. You should take a look fer yourself. I’ll take this stuff off for scrapping.”

The redhead relieved her of her bag and headed odd with Deacon towards the ‘designated scrapping area’ she had built a month back. Really, it was just a platform with junk on it. Designated scrapping area sounded much better.

With a shrug she did as was suggested. One of the large corner rooms of the star-shaped fort had been converted into the living area. Most small rooms along the way were now bedrooms, so it was nice to have somewhere where everybody could just meet and relax. Apparently Hancock had been too relaxed. Part of her was really excited to see what position the ghoul had gotten himself into now.

On one of the longer sofas, she found her boyfriend with his back to her, lying along the length of the cushions. From his steady breaths she reckoned he was sleeping soundly. Due to his position, his hat was off. And nowhere to be seen. She ran a hand through her hair and approached as quietly as she could, thankful that she had shed her armour before choosing to come in the room.

She gently rested her hand on his shoulder, not wanting to give him a fright. In this world, just touching a person whilst they slept could earn you a bullet. But he didn’t jump awake, thankfully, merely grunted and curled into himself a little more, intent on still sleeping. What was it about this scene that amused Cait so much?

It was then that she saw it.

Carefully protected in Hancock’s arms was his tricorn, upside down, with something grey where his head should have been.

“Dust..” She laughed softly and shook her head. Dust was curled up in his hat, fast asleep, and he was protecting the small cat in his sleep. The word ‘adorable’ didn’t even begin to describe it.

Nora gently stroked over the cat’s soft fur, listening to how he chirped in response and bared the underside of his chin for further petting. She laughed again and tickled under his chin. Apparently the sound had woken Hancock because he rolled onto his back, fixing her with a sleepy grin.

“You found my friend.”

“Were you hiding him?” She sat on the arm of the sofa, closest to his head.

“Nah, he just likes my hat. And cuddles.”

“Ah, Hancock, you melt my heart.”

He laughed and folded his hands on his chest. “I am a charmer, love, you were just lucky enough to take me all for yourself.”

“Ooh, is this the part where I agree?”

“Usually, yeah. It’s nice to compliment your partner, you feel me?”

“Oh, I do plenty of feeling you.” She patted his hands and stood up. “Why don’t we head to bed? You can bring Dust with us.”

“Does that mean Dogmeat and Patch shall be joining us?”

“Of course.”


End file.
